


It's True, War Never Changes

by sky_fires



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Explicit Language, F/M, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Build, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-05-15 10:33:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5782951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fires/pseuds/sky_fires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frozen for two hundred years and thrown into a land both old and new, the last survivor of Vault 111 must find her way to getting her son back in the wastelands of the Commonwealth. Friends, enemies and maybe the odd synth brahmin or two. </p><p>Rating may change further down the track.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vault 111

A computerized voice, then the freezing cold and then...nothing was all she could remember. At least until the cold abated long enough so she could see the pod opposite her own. "I'm not giving you Shaun!"came a voice.  _Nate!_ her mind reminded her and finally her vision had cleared enough, just in time to see a man pointing a gun at her husband. A single pop followed before Nate slumped back. His jumpsuit blooming with red from his blood.

The man with the gun closed the pod in disgust "God dammit! get the kid out of here" he barked and another figure whisked her baby away. His cries growing fainter as he was taken. Stolen! She watched helplessly as the murderer strolled over to her pod and peered through the glass at her. "At least we have the backup" he muttered to himself before he walked away.

Jay felt her legs and body grow numb again as the cold increased  _I'll find you, you bastard_ she thought, just before the whiteness came once more.

Abruptly she came to, ice cold and shivering like mad. Frantically she started beating on the door to her pod wanting out of the cold, cramped space. The door opened without warning and she fell on the floor outside coughing and gasping. Every single breath was painful and felt like cold knives were piercing her lungs as well as her body. Slowly the pain stopped and she risked moving to look about the room, she noticed Nate's pod and picked herself up from the floor, scrambling over to his pod and trying to beat it open too. "Come on! Open damn you!" she yelled before noticing the lever by his pod. She pulled it and the door opened painfully slowly with a hiss.

"Oh...oh God no..." Jay whispered as she reached forward with shaking hands and tried to feel for a pulse. Nothing. He was gone. Restraining a sob she took his cold hand and pulled the wedding band from his finger, slipping it on under her own on her finger so she didn't lose it. "I'll find him...and I'll get Shaun back. I promise you Nate." She vowed as she pulled the switch to close the pod once more, making a small noise when it closed. Sealing the body of her husband inside.

On the way out she looked through the glass into the other pods and saw her neighbors, people she knew...all frozen in icy graves.  _Why would Vault-Tec do this to us?! Pulling this sick shit?!_ she thought while fighting back the urge to be sick.

Moving through the Vault she picked up what useful supplies she could, stuffing them into the pockets of her suit. A chittering noise greeted her ears and she looked up, recoiling in shock at the sight of the giant bug crawling on the glass window before it jumped off.  _What the...? Giant bugs? Cockroaches?_   _What the hell is going on?!_ Jay thought while grabbing a stray baton from a nearby table, ready to beat the crap out of any bugs that got in her way. Getting closer to the reactor she heard the chittering noise again before one of the roaches crossed her path and instantly went on the attack.

She swung the baton wildly and sent the creature flying. It hit the wall with a loud thud and lay on the floor stunned. Taking no chances she beat it continuously until it was nothing but a pile of goop and mush before slowly and carefully continuing onward. Breathing hard from the fright.

Some time later she found herself standing in front of the large metal door to the Vault, waiting on the Pip-Boy to load on her left arm. Her journey had been strange to say the least. From what she had gathered from the terminals the other dwellers...those that were watching them...were studying the effects of cryogenics. When the bomb went off the experiment had begun. Shuddering slightly she remembered their too calm and smiling faces, their insistence that she remain calm and not think about the bomb or anything as they scanned her and gave her the vault suit.  _I guess there's one benefit to being frozen...I'm here and they aren't_  she thought grimly as she remembered her findings from the Overseer's terminal. They'd all died from either starvation or killing one another. The only thing she was really confused about was how long she was trapped in there for. The log entries ended after 2078...so that made a year at least but all the skeletons... just how long was it really?!

The Pip-Boy loaded fully with a beep and she pulled the plug out of the back of it to unlock the button and pressed it when the cover lifted. The large mechanical...key of sorts, jerked to life with a loud noise and approached the door, unlocking it and then pulling it back and aside. She held up her hand against the strong spotlight on the other side which was painfully shining in her eyes as the bridge extended through the gap. Seeing that was the only way to get out, she followed it and descended the stairs to the lift. Letting it take her to the surface once more. " _Thank you for choosing Vault-Tec"_ ...oh the irony.


	2. Welcome Home

Everything was...gone. She could see Sanctuary Hills from where she stood whereas before she wouldn't have been able to as easily. When her eyes finally adjusted to the bright sun she couldn't restrain the choked wail that came from deep in her throat at just how much things had changed. Everything that she remembered, gone in what felt like a instant. Jay stumbled down the hill toward what was her home but found rusted ruins instead. She sat down roughly on the curb and just stared, wide eyed in shock at the destruction until a whizzing noise caught her attention. Looking over to find the noise she found her old Mr Handy, Codsworth trimming a somewhat dead looking hedge out the front of the house.

Her mouth gaped open and shut like a fish for a moment before she finally managed to make a sound. "C-Codsworth?"

The Mr Handy swung round and focused it's visual sensors on her. "As I live and breath Ma'am! It's you it's really you!" He floated to her excitedly, almost appearing to bob in place in happiness. "Why...you look positively _awful_ Mum. Best not let the hubby catch you like that"

At the mention of Nate, the memories of what happened in the Vault flooded her mind. Her face turned pale as she mumbled to herself "He's gone... This can't be happening. It just can't..."

"What about playing a nice game of charades?" the robot suggested "Young Shaun does so love that game! err...are the master and Shaun not with you Mum?" he asked, looking around as though expecting them to suddenly jump out from somewhere.

Jay paled further, to the point her tan skin was almost white. "Nate's...gone Codsworth. Someone killed him and kidnapped Shaun"

"Mum, these things you're saying. These horrible and terrible things...I do believe they are the result of hunger induced paranoia. Going two hundred years without food will do that to you, you know"

Her eyes went wide as things began to make more sense with the skeletons and the decay. "T-Two hundred years?!"

"A little over two hundred and ten actually! Taking into account the Earth's rotational pull and a few dings to the old chronometer. That must mean..." he paused as he did the calculations "You're over two centuries late for dinner!" he chortled.

She put her head in her hands, trying to wrap her head around that it still felt like she'd been out for five minutes. Not Two hundred years!

The sound of Codsworth's rocket came closer "So they really aren't coming are they. Shaun and the master?" He sounded disappointed and it caused her to look up

"No Codsworth...they aren't" Jay watched his limbs droop sadly "Are you alright? You seem strange"

"Oh...oh Mum it's been just  _horrible_!" She listened with half a ear as he lamented on about not being able to keep the house cleaned and how he couldn't polish the car because of it's rust. She didn't mean to but she found it difficult to focus on Codsworth when she was trying to understand that this was the world now. "Codsworth, stay with me now and focus pal!" she reached out and grabbed his pincer, knowing that she'd drawn his attention when she heard the whizz of his sensors focusing.

"Sorry Mum, it's just been so long with no one to talk to. No one to  _serve!_ '

Jay frowned and then sighed "I need to find Shaun, someone took him so I know he's alive. Do you know where I can start looking?"

"May I suggest starting in Concord, Mum? After the nuclear fallout I went over there to take a look but the locals weren't exactly friendly. I only got shot at a few times though!" the robot supplied, pointing off in the township's direction with one of his arms.

Swallowing a sarcastic quip she instead nodded "Thank's Codsworth" and she picked herself up off the ground. "I'll go take a look"

Codsworth was quiet a moment "Miss Jessica, I have a holotape for you. I believe the master was intending to give it to you as a surprise" his arms spun as he pulled out the yellow holotape from a compartment in his casing. Jay twitched when he used her full name, a habit she hadn't been able to break him out of. She reached out and took the tape carefully, her chest aching as she held it in her hand. Awkwardly she stuffed it into one of the pockets of her suit and gave the Mr Handy a thin smile. While she did want to know what was on it badly, at the same time deep down in herself she didn't. That if anything made the guilt she felt over surviving the Vault increase. _I'm sorry Nate. I'm so sorry...it should be you out here, not me..._

"Just across the bridge and follow the road right?" she asked Codsworth

"Yes Mum! err..." he paused for a moment "While I'll happily stay and hold down the fort here, would you rather...I go with you to Concord? After what happened last time you went on a journey, what with ending up in the next state rather than-"

"Codsworth that's enough!" she cut in while feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment "I'm just going down the road, not to Winthrop again. I can't get lost when it's just a mile away!"

"If you're sure then Mum" he responded, his tone suggesting that he didn't believe her one bit

Jay made a annoyed sound "I'll be back soon Codsworth"

"yes Mum!" and off he went, humming Rule Britannia in the process and leaving her with her thoughts as she followed the path to the exit of Sanctuary Hills.

She made it as far as the Red Rocket garage before a large panting streak of brown and black ran toward her and started jumping up at her legs. "What in the...?!" On reflex she had her pistol drawn and damn near shot the dog. "Arrgh! I- sit!!" she ordered and the dog's rear met the ground on command. It's tail wagging madly.

Sighing in relief that she wasn't about to be licked to death, Jay lowered her gun and looked more fully at the creature. The german shepherd stared at her with big brown eyes and whined softly causing something in her to melt at how adorable the gesture was. She knelt down and offered her hand so he could get her scent as a trust gesture, a short moment later and a warm wet tongue started licking her fingers. "Geh! well...at least you're friendly huh boy?" she asked while wiping her hand off on her suit.

The dog barked happily and immediately flopped on her feet to expose his belly but the movement nearly caused her to lose her balance and fall on him. "Dog, I appreciate the gesture but now's not the best time". She sighed but then stopped when a strange noise filled the air, a moment later and a large mound of dirt suddenly rose and a creature that looked like a ugly hairless rat came up out of the ground.

She stumbled back as the dog rose growling and went on the attack. Jay raised her pistol, taking a haphazard aim and then firing. The bullets weren't kill shots but the dog's teeth were as it dragged the creature from the hole and tore into it's neck. Some further rumbling immediately came as several more heads popped up from the ground and creatures started going for the dog. "Damn it Dog! get out of there!" she yelled, raising her gun once more.   _Breathe easy now_ Nate's voice soothed.  _See the notch? look through it to the metal at the end. There's your sight and how you aim. Now breathe and pull the trigger, love._ Following the mental instruction she did so, landing a neat head shot in one of the rat creatures and killing it.

Three pairs of eyes turned to her as they picked up on the loss of it's brethren and started galloping in her direction. "Shit!" she growled and started backing away quickly, firing as she went. Jay was lucky enough to bring down one more before the other two caught up and started slashing and biting her. The vault suit held together reasonably well as she kicked one of them away and shot it dead a moment later. The final creature took advantage of her distraction and made a particularly hard bite, cutting through the suit and lodging it's teeth in her lower leg.

Her yell of pain roused the wounded dog and it tackled the creature, sinking it's teeth in and pinning it while Jay with shaking hands made the kill shot. It's task done the dog just sat at a awkward angle, it's fur stained with blood from the numerous bites and scratches from the creatures. He whimpered slightly as he nuzzled her wounded leg.

Wincing at the pain the touch caused, looked toward the garage. "I...wait here boy. I'm gonna look for something okay?". Another whimper was all she got as she limped over to the open garage doors and located a med pack with relative ease. A single medpack and some stray fabric was all that it contained so she took them both and made her way back to the dog. "Well...this is the apocalypse after all. figures things would be scarce" she muttered to herself as she knelt by the dog.

"Lets see...how do they normally do this?" she wondered out loud while cautiously grabbing the scruff of Dog's neck and pushing the needle of the stimpack through his skin so it would inject. The dog yelped which covered up the hiss of the release of medicine and gently Jay rubbed the back of his neck "Sorry boy, I know it hurts but bear with me and it'll be over soon okay?"

After what seemed like forever the dog pushed himself to his feet and gave a tentative lick to Jay's face. She responded by rubbing Dog's muzzle and scratching behind his ears. "Feeling better I assume?". A bark was her answer which made her smile faintly as the then tended to her own wound, winding the fabric around her leg so she wasn't bleeding all over the place. Once done she looked at him "think you can show me the way to Concord boy?" she asked him, causing him to bark once more and run away from the road and off into the hills. He did stop however and wait for her to follow.

She got to her feet and slowly walked after him. "okay boy! lead the way". With that, off he trotted with his tail high in the air...just in completely the wrong direction and leaving her to follow.


	3. Ghoul Mayor Hancock

Two days later and Jay was lost in the maze of buildings and alleys that she had a feeling was formerly main Boston city. Tiredly she looked down at Dog who was sitting by her side with his tongue hanging out. "This is all your fault you know. A whine sounded from Dog as he thumped his tail. "Oh don't give me that. You had to get distracted by that...giant blowfly and chase it down. Well done. We're lost." Another whine. "...you're lucky you're cute Dog. But that doesn't help our food and water situation now does it?"

Dog barked and stood up, beginning to walk off somewhere with his nose to the ground. Sighing to herself she followed him, eventually beginning to smell something cooking in the air vaguely. Following her nose after noticing Dog was headed in the same direction, she smacked into a large junk fence of sorts that had a large glowing sign saying 'Goodneighbor' on it.

"Yeah, this definitely isn't Concord" she observed while rubbing her sore nose. Following the sign she managed to find a door leading in and entered with Dog hot on her heels.

 

Looking about, she felt like she'd either accidentally stepped into red light district by mistake or into a film noir show judging by all the men running about the place carrying tommy guns. A man off to her left approached her, taking a long drag on a cigarette and flicking the butt across the pavement. "Well, a new face to Goodneighbor! Welcome! Takin' a look at your leg there, you'll be in the market for some insurance."

"...what?" She responded in monotone, sizing the man up and down. _Either this is a thug or the worst sales pitch I've ever seen. Lovely_

He gestured around him. "This here's a dangerous place. People can have accidents. Large...bloody accidents." He emphasized, fingers tapping on a gun in a holster on his side.

"Oh for the love of..." Jay growled "Right. I'm gonna sum this up asshole. I haven't eaten anything in two days so I'm in a really shit mood right now. So fuck off before I make _you_ need that so called 'insurance'". Against her side, Dog bared his teeth in a savage snarl at the man and made him back off warily.

"Alright. Time out everyone. Finn, I thought I told you already about the extortion crap." A somewhat husky voice sounded from behind who Jay assumed was Finn.

Finn scoffed "what do you care anyway?"

"Aww, no love for your mayor Finn? I said let her go." The voice ordered. Jay looked around Finn's shoulder and was surprised by what she saw. She knew from her history lessons she was forced to attend as a kid who the outfit belonged to. But she was more confused by what was wearing it.

For all intents and purposes he looked and walked like a man but the main difference was his skin looked like it had been smothered in burns and his eyes were pure black. In a way it kind of reminded her of the aliens she used to love reading about in comic books. Just he wasn't green or carrying a blaster.

"You're getting soft Hancock" Finn growled "you keep letting outsiders walk all over us and one day there'll be a new mayor around here." Hancock noticed the newcomer roll her eyes at the power display and smirked slightly as he approached Finn.

"Come on man, this's me we're talkin' about." He reached out and patted Finn's shoulder "and let me tell you something..." with little warning he reached under the back of his coat and pulled out a sharp blade. Stabbing Finn twice in the stomach and leaving him to drain out in the gutter when he fell. He pulled out a cloth to clean his knife before sheathing it, more than a little surprised that she didn't just run off screaming bloody murder.

"Sorry about that" he apologised "you pretty much had old Finn handled but a mayor's gotta make a point. You alright?" Hancock frowned slightly as the woman before him just shrugged. He noted the vault suit and the fabric tied around her calf as well as the snippet of conversation he caught earlier. Normally he didn't pay much attention to any visitors beyond making sure they stayed out of trouble and knew the rules here, but this lady seemed _interesting_.

"Summing it up? I'm tired, sore, starving...and I suppose looking for work."

"Work huh? Meet me down in the Third Rail in a hour. I might have something for you." He started heading off without hearing her response. She noticed a woman with bright ginger hair step out from the shadows and follow Hancock. His bodyguard she assumed before exploring around the place. She found the entrance to the Third Rail and descended the steps.

The atmosphere within was...different. In the corner was a jukebox with a woman in a bright red dress, singing softly while a Mr Handy wearing a bowler hat was polishing glasses at a bar. It focused on her and pointed to Dog. "No dogs in my bar" it said in a thick english accent different from Codsworth's.

Jay pointed to a corner outside the bar area and Dog reluctantly lay down in it with his tail between his legs. Sighing, she sat at the bar "got any water?"

"All I got here is hard liquor. If you ain't got the caps then clear off" the robot gruffly responded.

"...caps?" She tilted her head in confusion

The robot stopped polishing and looked really close "what are you? Stupid? Caps. You know. Money?"

"...would stuff for trade work as well?" She reached in her pockets beginning to pull out what she could while the Mr Handy just floated there in silence. It focused one of it's sensors at something behind her while she was digging.

"Oi, Mayor Hancock! You seen this lady? Doesn't even know what a cap is!" He yelled. Suddenly the bar went silent and Jay had a miiiighty big wish to be invisible right now.

Hancock blinked, looking between the vault dweller and Charlie. "Now now Chuck. I'll deal with her, give her whatever she wants on me. I'll have my usual too"

"Coming right up. Water wasn't it?" Charlie asked, prompting a nod from Jay.

"And food too...if you've got it"

"Yeah yeah. Go do your business with the mayor and I'll bring it to you."

Jay eased up from the seat and turned to Hancock after returning everything to her pockets. He looked somewhere between amused and perplexed as he gestured to a pair of empty couches and proceeded to make himself at home in one of them. Charlie brought the drinks and food which consisted of something on sticks while she sat herself down in the empty one.

Hancock looked over the woman across from him again while he felt in his coat for the tin of mentats he always kept close by. Taking one and savoring it in his mouth in silence while the woman took a few cautious bites of the squirrel on sticks before hunger took over and she started practically gulping them down.

The dweller was of a fairly tall height, just a few inches under him minus his hat. She had dark red hair that he remembeted from their odd introduction thanks to Finn and blue-green eyes. He couldn't really tell how long her hair was considering it was done up in a relatively thick bun but mos people kept their hair short for safety's sake in the Commonwealth. It just further implied that she was very far from home.

"So" he said after a while when she'd slowed eating "mind telling me what you're doing here?"

Her mouth was still full so it took her a moment to clear it. "What?"

He reclined back in the couch, observing her with a critical eye. "Lets be honest here, you don't exactly belong here and I'm fully expecting to find your teeth as well as your body ln the pavement in the morning. So why are you here?"

Jay folded her arms "since I can't exactly disobey the mayor who saved my ass..." a sarcastic tone colored her voice which made him smirk slightly "...I got lost on my way to Concord"

Hancock sat there in silence. "No offence, but Goodneighbor is a bit too far south of Concord, sister."

"So I noticed...my trusty canine companion over there was distracted by a giant blowfly and went running off after it,  leaving me to chase him... mind you that was after we'd already left the main road" she muttered before taking her glass and sipping from it. Sighing at the simple pleasure of being full.

"Blow...fly?" He looked confused

"You know, giant buzzing bugs...though these ones spit out some kind of wiggling creatures at me."

"They're called bloatflies" taking a swig of his beer, he swished the contents around slightly with his hand in thought.

"Bloatflies...sound kinda similar I suppose" Jay frowned slightly

Hancock was confused at the term she used before and her lack of understanding of what caps were. It was almost as if... "hey, when were you born?"

She raised a eyebrow at his question but still answered. "April eleventh, twenty forty seven"

It was too fast. Too on reflex. As though she had said this many times before. "You're shitting me"

Jay shook her head. "No. Vault-Tec were doing some kind of experiments with cryogenics... freezing people over time." She elaborated. "I got out of there roughly three days ago. I was the only survivor other than my son."

He slowly let a breath out through his nose. _Out of her time and with a kid to boot. Shit._ He thought to himself. "Where's the kid now? surely he can't be here". Right at that moment he could have kicked himself for putting the expression of raw grief on her face. "Shit! I-I didn't mean...!"

"No...its fine" she responded quietly. "He got stolen. Kidnapped while I was still trapped in there. Problem is I don't really know where to start looking to find him."

Thinking hard, Hancock was quiet for a while. "I know of someone in Diamond City who could help. Haven't heard from 'im in a while but I reckon he's still there. Either way you're still gonna need caps to get in there and get what you need." Leaning slightly, he yelled to the bar. "Yo Chuck! Is MacCready still here?"

"Yes sir mayor, he's in the VIP lounge. Need me to get him?"

"Nah, I'll do it." He got up and looked down at Jay "you good to get up?"

Quickly she finished off her drink and nodded, getting up herself.

"Y'know I just realized I never got your name" he said while heading off into the lounge. She was quiet for a bit before responding with "It's Jay"

"Hmm quite a nice-" Hancock stopped at the sight of two Gunners questioning MacCready for some reason and leaned against the dooframe. "Hey, last I checked...this area was for VIP's only. Since when did your asses count?"

One of them stiffened slightly. "We were just discussing business." He jerked his head to his companion and the both headed out. Hancock grabbed the leader by the arm Nd leaned in close to his ear. "I couldn't give two shits if you're here for so called 'business'" he hissed "Once you're in Goodneighbor you're on _my_ turf. So don't go pickin' fights we both know you can't handle. You feel me?"

The man roughly shook his arm free and left while Jay just blinked in confusion as the mayor lead on further into the room. "MacCready."

The final remaining man brushed off his coat briskly. "Hancock. So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I got a job for you, a bit out of your usual line but not too far off"

MacCready raised a eyebrow "Oh? How so? Oh and before we continue you know my usual fee"

"How about I go clear that debt you owe with Charlie over there before he starts gettin' inventive with your drinks?" Hancock countered, prompting MacCready to shudder.

"Point taken but I still can't do charity"

"Fine. Fifty caps up front and as soon as my companion here is able, another hundred will be coming from her."

"Her?" He looked to Jay. "You're kidding me Hancock"

"Nope, do you want the caps or not?"

MacCready considered the offer for a few minuted, rubbing his face in annoyance "Arrgh, fine. Can't really say no anyway"

Jay was flabbergasted. "Wait...hold on! Do I get no say in this Hancock?!" He raisex what would normally be a eyebrow at her. "Mayor Hancock" she corrected.

"Better. And no. Not really." He fingered his coat, absently stroking the lining. "The way I see it, you're damn fucking lucky to have made it here alive and with all your pretty little fingers attached too. Especially considering you were supposed to end up in Concord in the first place." A sudden snorting laugh distracted him and he narrowed his eyes at MacCready.

"Ahem...sorry...continue"

"Whatever time you came out of sunshine, those days are long gone. You want to survive and find your kid? Then here's your best chance. So, what do you say?"

"...fine. Let me guess though, I still owe you for this don't I?"

"You do, which you get to fill by doing this job for me. I want you to go to the Pickman Gallery and investigate what's going on over there. Its Raider territory but things've been quiet. Too quiet. Easy enough job for you to do wouldn't you say?"

"Go to place, check it out and come back. Alright. Simple enough"

"Good. MacCready show her where it is and guard her with your life until either she gets the hang of things or pays you back. Whichever comes first." Hancock reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out the agreed upon caps, tipping them into MacCready's outstretched hand.

"Yes sir!" He saluted with a smirk, prompting Hancock to roll his eyes.

"Get going asshole" he ordered

MacCready gestured for Jay to lead the way back out before following with Dog in tow. Meanwhile Hancock slumped into a chair and pulled out a inhaler which he took a deep drag on. Letting the contents within whisk him away from the real world and all the shit it provided.


	4. The Red Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the previous chapter with the numerous spelling errors and editing fails. I generally use desktop to upload new chapters but decided for a change to use the phone...just never again. That aside, enjoy the new chapter

"Okay, so you're telling me that you're from over two hundred years in the past. On top of that you used to live here, married and saw the big bang"

"I...what? Big bang?" Jay turned to her companion with a quizzical expression as they walked.

"You know. The big boom. The bomb that turned this place into a shi-.....I mean into what it is now." MacCready mimed with his hands rather awkwardly the mushroom shape from the bomb.

"Ohhh that...I wasn't on the surface for long...but yeah, it actually looks like that. Giant mushroom cloud I mean. I just remember a massive roll of dust coming towards us and a wave of heat that I guess was the start of all the radiation." She tapped her finger on her holstered pistol restlessly to give her mind something to focus on. "When I woke up the second time there was nothing left in the Vault beyond bodies, skeletons and the giant cockroaches....wait...radroaches weren't they?"

MacCready nodded "Huh....for what it's worth...I'm sorry for what you went through." His tone was strange for a moment before he cleared his throat.

A red door at the end of a alley caught her eye and she pointed to it. "This place it?"

He pulled out his rifle "Yeah, this is it"

The seriousness in his expression prompted her to pull out her own pistol and hold it at the ready as she cautiously approached the door. Gesturing for Dog to remain outside, she didn't want to risk him getting injured again.

"You have a good grip on that thing" MacCready ventured, almost making her jump out of her skin. She turned her head with a glare and he gave a apologetic grin. "Sorry, bad timing. Had to admit that was hilarious."

Jay clicked her tongue in annoyance and carefully opened the door, almost gagging on the smell of rot and the other much stronger metallic scent of blood. Her companion closed the door behind him as to not alert people of their presence while she crept forward. She looked by the stairs in front and in the large side room to her left and held up three fingers to MacCready who nodded and readied his aim.

Sighting down her pistol , she aimed at the head of one of the raiders and waited until he was turning around before firing. He instantly went down in a shower of blood and other things she didn't really want to think about. Another bang from behind her and the second one by the stairs was gone too. The third came roaring out of the side room and she fired several shots into his chest, smacking into MacCready when she tried scrambling backward to avoid the corpse falling on her.

He steadied her while looking slightly annoyed and Jay got to her feet slowly. She entered the side room, trying to breather through her mouth rather than her nose while she looked around.

"Oh...Great. Thanks for the nightmare fuel Hancock." He muttered while shuddering. Staring around at the admittedly creepy as hell paintings. Jay leaned close to one in the corner of the room, all the paintings seemed off but this one was on more of a angle rather than being near perfectly aligned, curiously she pulled it down from the wall and whistled.

"Helloooo secret safe. Wonder what you have inside..." She reached in her hair for a bobby pin and removed it. Holding it in her teeth while she searched her pockets for a screwdriver.

"You're not seriously going to pick that thing right now are you?" MacCready hissed, already antsy due to the raiders and the creepy room.

Jay ignored him as she turned back to the lock and proceeded to pick it. A short moment later and it opened with a satisfying click. Smirking to her companion who was open mouthed slightly while she cleared out the contents and shoved them in her pockets to check out later. Pulling out a knife that was also within, she turned it over in her hands. It was a medium sized blade with a unusually long handle, she hissed when it cut her fingers like tissue paper and she carefully passed it to MacCready. "Don't touch the blade, that thing is too sharp."

He gulped slightly and looked over at the pile of heads and corpses in the room with them while she fumbled in her pocket for one of the cloth strips she had, sucking on her fingers in the process. Eventually she found one and wrapped it around the knife, frowning slightly when the bleeding refused to stop for longer than normal. "You okay?" MacCready asked when she took the knife fully back so she could finish wrapping it, stowing it in her pocket when done.

"Yeah, hurts like hell though". She lead on, exploring through the rooms and killing the numerous raiders that remained with MacCready's help. Eventually they happened on a body carrying a holotape which she played in her Pip-Boy while fiddling with another lock.

Her hands slowly stilled as the tape continued. By the time Pickman's recorded humming began she'd stopped entirely and was just leaning her head on the door in silence. MacCready was rather pale himself as he gently nudged her shoulder. "I think I'm speaking for the both of us in that we should go. If Pickman himself's gotten into shi-... trouble then I think it's on his head now."

Jay stood up and nodded in silence, replacing the bobby pin in her hair with the others. Following MacCready as he lead the way back out the door. It didn't take long before she slumped against the wall of the alley and just slid down it until she sat on the ground, taking deep breaths of air. "F-Fucking hell"

MacCready pulled out a bottle of whisky he'd swiped from Charlie's bar at some point and took a swig from it. He tapped the bottle on her head to get her attention. "Here, reckon you'll need this"

Taking it carefully she held it in her hand for a moment before taking a drink as well, pulling a face as the bitter taste burned down her throat. It helped a lot to bringing her mind out of the horror of that place. Taking one more sip, she gave the bottle back to MacCready who replaced the cap with a snap. Dog quietly rested his head on her leg and gave a reassuring whine, prompting Jay to scruffle his head.

"I've read about some serial killers but I think that one takes the cake. Using raiders as art? Sure it'd smell lovely in a few months". MacCready snorted his amusement.

"We should head back to Hancock. It's gonna get dark soon and I'd rather not be out with all the super mutants or mirelurks near this area. Both are hell to handle."

She got up from the ground and followed him as he started back "Super mutants are a thing?"

"Big, loud, green and angry. They tend to take over what areas they want by force. Any humans that just happen to be in their way usually end up either dead or as food."

"sounds lovely" she responded sarcastically, making him smirk a little in the process.

"Okay, here in the Commonwealth...or at least Boston city, we have several different lovely groups. You've met two which are Goodneighbor which is for people like me and Hancock, and the raiders which as the name implies they take whatever the hell they want"

"Soooo like pink, fleshy super mutants:

"Exactly. There's multiple groups all lead by different people. Whoever's the most brutal tends to be the leader. The mirelurks are like giant crabs who're damn ugly and hard to kill unless you go for the face. Been told they're interesting in a sandwich though"

Jay snorted in amusement "who else?"

The you have Diamond City. All human aside from a few robots. Lead by a guy named McDonough and apparently a right asshole too. Rarely you'll run into the Children of Atom, you won't find them here but I should warn you that they're nuts and believe that the bomb that destroyed everything was a act of god...they dubbed it Atom. If you do run into them, watch out for their guns. Seriously." He looked back and found Jay with her mouth open in shock.

"People actually believe that bullshit?! ....know what? never mind, continue." She was shaking her head in amazement

MacCready ticked off on his fingers the last few groups. "Last but not least you have the Triggermen which I've heard are some kind of mafia. The Institute which no one is really sure exists or not but they keep pumping out synths so I'm guessing they do. Deathclaws are about the most dangerous creatures you'll find, big horns and teeth as well as a huge appetite, and finally you have the Gunners which are...mercs. Not the best people to run with" he added the last part with a bitter tone.

She was tempted to ask about what synths were but seeing the dark expression on his face made her keep quiet.

Eventually they reached Goodneighbor once more and she headed straight into the state office to get to Hancock's floor. Hancock himself was splayed out on the couch and humming some kind of tune while looking away with the fairies.

"Oh jeeze, not again." MacCready grumbled and snapped his fingers just in front of the mayor's face. "Anyone in there? Hellooooo Hancock!"

A noise from behind jay startled her and the ginger haired woman from before approached MacCready threateningly. Instantly he backed off with his hands raised in a 'i surrender' pose. "Woah, hey Fahrenheit. Mind helping Hancock get back into reality some?"

"I'm already back, what with your noise wrecking the moment." Hancock grumbled and straightened up. "So, sunshine. What did you find?"

Jay didn't respond, instead she replayed the holotape on her Pip-Boy. They mayor's expression grew darker steadily as the tape continued until it cut out. "He was using the raiders for his....art. If you can call it that." she filled. "MacCready and I decided that some things were just best to be left to sort themselves out. Especially since Pickman provoked them first"

He was silent for a while "I'll put the word out for people to stay clear of the area, regardless of if Pickman survives or not. Plenty of pissed off raiders will be hanging around for a while. Anyway, thanks for doing that."

She nodded "I'll be staying in Hotel Rexford, MacCready just come whenever you're ready I guess?"

"Sure, I'll be there" he responded and Jay tiredly dragged herself off to the hotel. Managing to scrape together the needed caps to book a room and buy a backpack from someone. Once in the room she closed the door behind Dog and peeled off her grimy vault suit, just leaving it dumped on the floor. Pulling out the mechanic jumpsuit she found in the safe and climbing into it. Too tired to do anything further she just fell into a dreamless sleep with Dog joining her a short time later to keep her warm.


	5. The Interview

Jay was awoken by a strong knocking on her door and rolled from bed, wobbling heavily when she got to her feet. Her movement woke up Dog who gave a large canine yawn. She never was a good morning person and it showed as she used the wall for support while fumbling to unlock the door.

MacCready stood on the other side, hand raised mid knock “well good morn… gah! You always this scary in the morning?”

She fixed him with a glare and stood aside to let him in. “M’not exactly ‘friendly’ if I haven't had coffee. Never thought I'd miss the stuff so much”

“Coffee?” he asked, seating himself in a chair

“Used to be made from a bean. You ground it, added boiling water as well as milk or something to make it sweet. It’s kinda like alcohol but doesn't make you sleepy…” she made a wistful sigh while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Huh. Strange stuff you guys had back then. Anyway I have word of a job if you're interested”.

She pulled the pins from her hair as well as the tie and stuck them in her mouth while she tried to pull it into some kind of order. “Mmphkay…?”

“Well since you're probably short on caps again, I did some scouting and found that someone named Bobbi No-Nose was looking for some help in a kind of project”

Jay raised her eyebrow as she rolled her hair into a bun and tied it in place, pinning the stray strands up as well “okay, use of the word ‘project’ is awfully vague. Got anything more for me to go on?”  
“nope. Just that she's looking for helpers”

She sat on the bed to pull on and lace up her boots, tucking the legs of the jumpsuit awkwardly into the top “And where is she?”

MacCready scratched his chin thoughtfully “Behind some locked door at the end of a alley” at her raised eyebrows he quickly waved a hand “She said she's offering three hundred caps when the job's done”

“Alright, I'll take your word on this. If anything goes wrong I'm blaming you”

“I'll take it as a hazard of the job. You good to go?”

Quickly she shoved her suit and the items in the pockets in the bag she bought and tied on the holster to her gun. “Yeah now I am. C'mon Dog” she called, watching the dog stretch and follow them.

* * *

  
Bobbi was a interesting…ghoul or whatever she referred to herself as. However she had a hunch she wasn't being told the whole truth about this so called ‘dig’, but MacCready didn't sense anything amiss and the caps weren't anything to sneer at so she just kept her head down. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd been involved in something shady.

The ghoul mentioned that she needed a certain acquaintance in Diamond City in order to continue with the dig, which had been stalled thanks to the presence of mirelurks in the tunnel. MacCready was in the process of leading her to the ‘city', though she remembered it more as the old baseball park where she and Nate used to visit as teens before he joined the army and she decided to make something of herself in law school. Her chest clenched painfully and she tried to quickly put old memories aside before they swamped her.

They stopped at the sight of woman arguing with a speaker outside of the heavy fortified door blocking the entrance to the park. “Rrrgh! I swear Danny if you don't open this door right now!” She shouted, waving a finger at the speaker like it was a misbehaving child. She looked up and caught sight of Jay and quickly waved her over.

Jay looked at MacCready who shrugged as they approached, Dog keeping quiet behind them. The woman hissed at them quietly “I'm guessing you want into the city huh? Just play along.” She spoke louder, ensuring whoever was on the other end could hear her. “So you say you're a trader from up Quincy? Even have enough supplies to keep the general store stocked for a whole month?” she smirked like the cat who ate the canary as she heard movement on the other end of the speaker. “Y’hear that Danny? You're gonna let this nice trader in aren't you?”

“Argh, alright Piper. Jeeze” came a voice and the mechanics in the door whirred to life.

Piper did a little fist pump of victory before adding “better hurry inside before Danny catches onto the bluff”. She ducked under the door only to smack into a guy wearing a dirty but still formal grey suit. They started arguing about something involving a article while Jay and the others tried to quietly sneak past them unnoticed.

“Hey you!” Piper shouted “you believe in freedom of speech don't you?” she jerked her thumb at the guy. “The so called ‘mayor’ here is trying to throw it in the dumpster!”

Sighing in annoyance, Jay folded her arms “Freedom of the press yes. Provided said person is doing something wrong that needs to be brought to public attention. Misuse of funds is news worthy, press deciding to jump the fence catch the mayor at home, getting drunk and dancing in a sparkle dress to jazz….not so much”

MacCready snorted at the mental image that came to mind but added “Who the hell cares though?”

The Mayor sputtered and turned a very interesting shade of purple as he turned back to Piper. “Consider you and that sister of yours on notice!” he pointed his finger at Piper “one more slip up and you're out of here!” with that he spun on his heel and stalked off, leaving the reporter to roll her eyes.

“Quick question… did people…actually do that where you're from?” She asked

“Who? The press or the mayor?”

"Both"

"Yep. There was a article on the Boston Bugle that had a rumor that the Jamaica Plain mayor was misusing funds to build something that wasn't approved by the public. It was also fairly common for film stars to get chased down every time they went to do groceries or something"

MacCready did a double take at her “Seriously?”

“Yup”

“Wow…that’s just…wow”

Piper blinked at the admission. “Awkwardness aside, I'd like to speak to you in my office at the Public Occurances. I think I have a article you might be good for.”

“We’re supposed to meet someone else but I have a few minutes if you want.” Jay responded, unfolding her arms and shrugging. “if you have water or something for us to drink then I can spend longer.” She noticed her companion frowning and gave a unimpressed expression “MacCready I'm not living on booze as I travel around the Commonwealth. Waiting several minutes won't hurt Bobbi nor the caps we're getting. You still get paid in the end so I don't see the issue here “

He raised his hands. “Fine. Go on then. I’ll follow.”

“Lead on Piper” she gestured to the entrance.

Piper saluted and lead the way into Diamond City proper, stopping only when a young girl appeared in front of her and she scruffled her head before going inside. Jay turned her head in time to catch a sentimental expression on MacCready’s face before he quickly wiped it clean. “You like kids huh?”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, patting Dog when he touched his hand with a cold wet nose. “I…might do”

“Hey, it’s a good thing to see” She reached for the door and headed inside with both MacCready and Dog close behind. Jay looked about the room, catching sight of some old fashioned printing presses she was surprised to see survived the fallout. “How’d you end out fitting those through the door?”

“Hmm? Oh. I had to mostly take ‘em back in pieces, then figure out how to put ‘em back together again. Took a lotta late nights but the result was worth it.” Piper patted one of the machines fondly. Turning to Jay she gestured to the couch while she set out glasses and filled them. Even grabbing a cracked bowl for the dog and filling that too.

She sat, MacCready remained standing but took the glass of water when offered. “So, what kind of article did you have in mind Piper?”

Piper bit her lip slightly with her fingers tapping on the purified water tin. “So…here it is. I want your life's story in print. I want someone with a one hundred percent new view of Diamond City and the Commonwealth to just…tell it like it is.”

“How do you even know I'm new?” Jay raised a amused eyebrow

“Well firstly the Pip-Boy tells me you're a vault dweller and the fish out of water look as you stared about Diamond City. You aren't wearing the normal vault suit right now though but you still have the look of someone who was just thrown in the deep end.”

She smirked slightly “there’s no fooling the eyes of a professional reporter, Blue”

MacCready actually looked surprised while Jay was more amused as she drank. “Alright. Fire away your questions Piper”

She beamed and grabbed a pencil and clipboard, sitting next to her on the couch. “So you came from the vault, what can you tell me of your time on the inside?”

“It was just me…and a thousand guinea pigs. They turned…carnivorous” she said dramatically with a grin

Piper scowled while MacCready choked on his drink in laughter. “Seriously Blue! Proper answer would be great!”

“ Alright, alright” she sobered “I actually didn't spent much time on the inside. They froze us in pods and watched us in some kind of experiment. When I woke up….everyone was dead”

Piper blinked but scribbled down the response. “So you aren't just a vault dweller but a original one. One who literally saw the world as it was!” She smirked “you look good for a woman of over two hundred”

“I…thanks?”

MacCready toasted her with his glass “I’ll agree to that”. Jay rolled her eyes and turned back to Piper “What’s next?”

“You’ve seen Diamond City and the rest of the Commonwealth…”

“Part of it. I…err…got lost the first day in” she actually blushed slightly “Ended up in Goodneighbor instead of Concord”

Piper couldn't help it and laughed like crazy. “Oh jeeze!”

Clearing her throat loudly made her stop but the reporter still couldn't hold back the occasional snicker as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Okay so how does that Commonwealth now compare to the one you left behind?”

Jay ran a finger around the lip of the glass as she thought “it can't. A lot of things changed but a lot of things stayed the same.” She sighed “the politicians were still greedy, it was getting more and more difficult to live because the war with China drained nearly everything else. Then it was just struggle, now it’s survival.”

“Maybe feeling a bit homesick Blue?”

“Sometimes you just don't realize how lucky you have it until it's gone forever” she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and gave Piper a sad smile. “I admit... I still haven't adjusted to the change yet. That's why I have MacCready over there watching my back”

He blinked in surprise but said nothing when Piper glanced at him from writing on the paper. “Okay Blue” she continued “it’s a little obvious you're here looking for someone, who are you looking for?”

This question Jay found hard to answer and she had to swallow more water to try and loosen up her throat. “My son. Was kidnapped while I was still trapped in there. Not even a year old.”

“The mother looking for her lost child” she sighed “as heartbreaking today as it ever was. Do you suspect the Institute was involved?”

“I can't give a answer on that. I can't know for sure whether they are or aren't. Why? Are they in the habit of kidnapping people?”

“Well, to sum it up there are two kinds of synths that the Institute puts out” she holds up her fingers “the first is easy to tell, they genuinely look like robots and sometimes have parts of their casing missing so you can see the skeleton inside. They scour the wasteland looking for supplies or salvage and kill anyone they come across with laser weapons” she put down a finger. “the second is a lot harder. They breathe, bleed, even give guilty glances just like a regular human. That's the one that the Institute replaces you with. No one knows what they want and its near impossible to tell unless you kill them and they just happen to have a synth component. That’s what's so terrifying about them”

Jay frowned, looking up at MacCready who shuddered slightly at the thought. “I can imagine”

“Okay then, last question… what do you want to say to the people of Diamond City directly? The threat of kidnapping is all but ignored in this place. So what's a message you'd like to give to the people who've lost someone?”

She took a deep breath “I guess that’d be to never give up hope. You have to hold onto that little shred that you might see them again. Don't let the threat of the Institute fill you with fear either. Keep together, keep hope, stay strong.” Her voice went all husky with restrained emotion and she cleared it. “sorry Piper…but i hope that was the article you wanted”

Piper smiled softly and tucked the pencil under the clip of the board. “You did fine, Blue. It'll take me a few days to piece everything together so I can give it to my sister Nat to print. Now in the meantime… I’d like to go with you for a while. See the world outside Diamond City for myself rather than just keep to a block's radius…if that's okay?”

Jay looked to MacCready who had a oddly neutral expression “You okay with that MacCready?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah…yeah. That's fine”

She frowned “Are you okay?”

He scowled at her “Yes Ma’am”

“Okayyy… well Piper, we just have to meet someone here and then we'll be on our way” she held out her hand to shake it “good to have you aboard our merry little crew”

Piper grinned and shook it “Good to come along, Blue”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'll be taking a week's break, partially to celebrate a birthday tomorrow (turning 25!) but also partially so I can finalize paperwork as I'm headed back to school. Next chapter to come, Hancock finally joins the crew! Thanks for reading everyone and for the kudos as well!


	6. Joining

"Why do I have the distinct feeling that I got used to flush Bobbi out?" Jay hissed while leaning across the small coffee table toward a carefully neutral faced Hancock. He watched her coolly but had that familiar twitch of guilt in his gut which he tried to quell by taking a deep drag of a cigarette in his hand.

"What gave it away?"

The redhead smacked her hand down on the table hard enough to knock several items to the floor. "How about that bodyguard of yours having fun calling me 'little pawn' every time I step within three feet of her! Instead of sending me on the run about with MacCready, why didn't you fucking tell me beforehand dammit?!"

Hancock stared at her balefully but acknowledged that she had a point as he tapped ashes into a already rather full ashtray on the coffee table. "I'm sorry"

Her angry expression quickly changed to one of complete shock. "Holy shit, a politician apologizing. Someone pinch me" She responded sarcastically, prompting him to growl slightly in his escalating annoyance.

"Hey, in case you haven't noticed asshole... I'm not proud of what I made you do and I fucking well don't enjoy pulling that kind of dictator shit"

"So why did you do it?"

"Because you were a unknown. Not one of my boys and MacCready is well known enough that his allegiance can be bought by the person with the most caps at the end of the day." He sighed deeply and threw the butt in the tray. "I thought I'd been feeling too damn comfortable lately..." He trailed off, leaving her confused.

"Comfortable?"

He shook his hand to dismiss what he just said and she sat down with a rough thud on the couch opposite, wincing slightly as she jarred her wounded shoulder with the movement. Jay saw Hancock's eyes narrow and quick as a flash he reached out and pulled on the collar of the jumpsuit roughly, revealing a nasty bite between her neck and shoulder. She yelped in a combination of pain and shock and slapped his hand away hard, her eyes also narrowing into a wary glare.

Hancock's mouth, what little he had of one, was a grim line. "Looks like MacCready wasn't watching your back enough...for you to be bitten by a feral"

She tugged the collar back in place. "Don't blame him. There was practically a army of the things down there. Though I have been safely assured that I won't become one from a bite like what happens in those zombie comics"

He was silent, long enough to make her twitch in her seat until suddenly he got up and walked over to a desk, opening a drawer and tossing her a stimpack from within. She caught it and just stared between it and him.

"You wanna handle it yourself or did you want me to? Been told I can be  _very_ gentle"

Jay actually blushed at his suggestive tone and felt under the collar for the wound, injecting the stim just near the site for maximum effectiveness. Hancock watched in amusement while a idea popped into his head of something he meant to say earlier before the mess with Pickman. "Alright sunshine, I have a proposal for ya." Upon her raised eyebrow of interest he continued. "I'm thinkin' I might take a wander for a while. Sharpen up the ol' killing instinct if you will. I also just remembered that I was gonna give you directions to Nicky's, a investigator I know, but considering the circumstances..." he trailed off again.

"Get to the point" she snapped, her leg twitching in annoyance

The ghoul grinned slightly "As you wish. You let me travel with you for a bit and I take you to Nick who'll help you find your kid"

"Won't Goodneighbor suddenly descend into chaos once their leader is out of the picture for a while?"

He rubbed his chin in thought while he sat on the couch once more. "Not really. Thanks to Bobbi being out of the picture now, it'll make any others think twice before pulling any shit"

She raised a eyebrow skeptically before shrugging. "You'll be sleepin' on the ground"

"That's fine, used to roughing it" he countered

"Food'll taste like shit"

"What doesn't? Aside from those prewar snacks"

"You'll have to do everything I tell you"

Hancock blinked, then a sly smirk appeared as he responded "Everything huh?" He chuckled as he succeeded in getting another blush from her.

"Fuck you."

"Tempting. Now... you quite done trying to come up with excuses as to why I can't tag along?"

Jay grumbled, even more annoyed that he was managing to get under her skin. "Fine...but I want a detour first"

"That right?"

"There's something I need to do, I know that first priority should be my son but..."

"But?"

"There's someone I need to check on, make sure they're okay before I can go with you to Nick's." She noticed finally that her leg was twitching throughout their conversation. The room felt warmer suddenly and she had a large urge to suddenly get up and move which she fought. It was so tempting to be anything but still and quiet.

Hancock noticed his companion's demeanor change from irritation to something else. While he couldn't hear a increased heart rate or her nervous swallowing, he could hear the shuffling of her feet on the creaky floorboards and the sound of her breathing as it became faster and louder. He tilted his head slightly in confusion but nodded a agreement. Jay almost leapt to her feet as she stood but he held up a hand before she decided to bolt out the door.

"Hold on now, just let me inform the people and I'll be with you." Hancock unlocked a drawer and pulled out supplies along with ammo for his trusty shotgun. He walked out onto the balcony to give his temporary farewell speech.

Jay quietly paced around the room, glad to be on the move. She picked up a holotape from the floor that had gotten knocked off when she hit the table and curiously played it in her Pip-Boy. Some lady advertising about something called the Railroad, she shrugged and went to put it back when a loud cheer from outside scared the crap out of her and she quickly shoved it in her pocked as Hancock reentered the room. He gave her a odd look at her guilty expression. "Shall we?" He enquired and gestured to the door.

She walked over and held it open while Hancock lead the way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I apologize for the long delay of...well over a month. The fast explanation is that I fell down a flight of wet tiled stairs on my birthday (ended out having to spend two weeks recovering from deep bruising along my spine and legs), then got caught up with my return to school (going for a diploma to be a lab assistant) and THEN after that I may have developed a minor addiction to Star Wars The Old Republic. *coughs* enough that I may write a fic involving that, but I want to get at least over half way with my current two.
> 
> That aside, I'll be popping out chapters within a few days of me writing them if all goes well. Anywho, thanks for reading


	7. Minutemen

Once again the lure of easy caps had MacCready leading the way, this time to the Combat Zone which was practically a hop, skip and a jump away from Goodneighbor and also out of Hancock's turf. He'd had a nasty chip on his shoulder against the ghoul after Jay updated him on the true circumstances behind the lead to Bobbi. He'd wisely kept his mouth shut and confined himself to sending a few glares in Hancock's direction on occasion to which the ghoul just shrugged it off and said that he was used to it.

The Combat Zone itself was little more than a old theater with some corpses handing from the nearby scaffolding as decoration. the air within the building was a mixture of stale dust, sweat, old blood and alcohol which made Piper gag. Jay was surprised to see two raiders behind a set of bars stripped completely naked and tied up. She'd tried to see if they wanted out but they just sneered at her and told her to fuck off.

Their group slowly approached the stage and at a certain point the raiders who were cheering on the fight within all turned as one to the motley crew and instantly reached for the guns. Jay had just enough time to curse loudly before they opened fire and she had to dive behind cover, yanking Dog by the scruff to relative safety.

She held the animal close while Piper was by her side, returning fire with the guys and on one occasion she gave Jay a reassuring smile. "Just like MacCready to get us in trouble once again eh Blue?"

Jay snorted and gave a awkward smile in response while waiting for the commotion to die down. She didn't have long to wait with MacCready and Hancock finishing the last few raiders easily as she carefully crawled out from cover and approached the stage

* * *

 

Cait remained silent the vast majority of the way of the journey north again. The ghoul, who jay had spent several minutes staring at his hair and debating on if it was real, insisted that Cait was a excellent fighter despite some...personal issues. Meanwhile after that she had spent several minutes fiddling with her Pip-Boy and finally figured out the map and marker function.

Hancock on the other hand was a little more concerned about their leader. Due to his being a ghoul a lot of thing changed. He could heal faster and was basically immune to radiation,  the flip side to the benefits was sensitivity to sunlight and his skin had a tendency to itch like mad or be extremely sensitive to the touch some days. There was also a problem in that his hearing was probably almost as sharp as the mutt's. Jay was quick to set up a watch system between the five of them but she always insisted on being first and was nearly always late to wake the second person for theirs. When she did crawl back to the fire for rest, he could hear her shifting around near endlessly which in turn kept him awake.

On one occasion as he was coming back from his watch, he found Jay still awake and stabbing at the logs from their campfire with a stick. The light serving to highlight the deep shadows that were present under her eyes. Instead of waking MacCready who was next on the watch rotation, he sat on the opposite side of the fire to her and open his tin of mentats. Slipping two under his tongue and sucking on them. "how long?"

It took a moment for his words to reach her "what?"

"How long has it been since you slept"

Jay was quiet as she tried to kick sluggish thoughts into motion. "Dunno, last full night I remember having was after Pickman." She raked her hand through her hair and sighed. "Every time I try to sleep, I just...can't. Unless I make myself tired enough so I don't dream. Usually my body won't let me sleep"

Hancock waved a inhaler at her from his coat "Could have one of these. Always sends me off"

She stared at him dryly before hanging her head and shaking it. "Pretty sure that's going to make things worse"

Shrugging, he placed the inhaler back in his coat. "Could always talk about it. I've got plenty of time" He suggested while sighing and stretching his legs out toward the fire. The ghoul watched as she looked to consider the offer for a moment before shaking her head once more.

"Nah, you don't wanna hear my sob story." Her voice had turned gruff and somewhat defensive as she ceased talking any further. The remainder of the night passed in awkward silence before dawn rolled round, rousing everyone else from their slumber and they got ready to move on.

Hancock didn't mention her tiredness any further but remained a somewhat distant observer. He understood her feelings in more ways than one and figured that if she wanted to tell him or really anyone about her demons then she would...or stubbornly take them to her grave.

It had taken another day at a slow walking speed to reach Concord. Gun shots in the distance made Cait perk up somewhat and she ran forward in glee at the prospect of another fight. There were surprisingly few raiders ahead and they were taken care of quickly. As Jay carefully nudged a pile of glowing ash with her boot she heard a voice yelling above her.

"Hey! we could use some help in here! I've got injured settlers!"

Cait shook her head, signifying her disagreement with becoming any more involved while Jay sighed. "How many?" she called back

"Five. Some of the raiders got inside and I can't hold them back!"

She looked over the group before heading inside. The fight here was harder with cramped and confined spaces with raiders lurking in dark areas. In one such room she felt a hand grab her collar and haul her back until she hit a hard, firm chest right before bullets sprayed the wall where she had just been. The strong scent of cigarettes provoked such a strong feeling of nostalgia and safety that she felt herself unconsciously leaning into it's warmth while muttering "Nate..."

A loud clearing of a throat behind her clicked Jay back into reality and she awkwardly scrambled away, discovering Piper had cleared the room and Hancock had a odd facial expression. His hand was outstretched slightly as though to pull her back. He stood and straightened his coat, not saying a word as he stalked past them, feeling four pairs of eyes stare into his back.

Jay quickly followed into the next room, her cheeks burning with shame, embarrassment and something else. The group followed behind until they reached the room where the settlers were holed up. Preston Garvey introduced himself along with Sturges and Jun Long. His wife Marcy just raked the newcomers with a scathing bitter glare while the final member, who went by the name of Mama Murphy, was the complete opposite. Instead welcoming them with a soft smile.

Plans for the next wave of defense were made and Jay sent down both Cait and MacCready to see if they could make sense of the door leading to a needed fusion core. As Jay passed by to get to the route leading upstairs, Mama Murphy reached out and grabbed her arm without warning. She held back from shaking it off as she fixed the old woman with a cold glare.

"So much pain in your past...so much suffering..." Mama Murphy began

Piper noticed that Jay paled sharply and elbowed Hancock in the side, causing him to wince and glare at her. She jerked her head at the scene in front of them and he frowned in confusion as the old woman continued.

"I saw you come out of that ice box you know. I can also tell you that I can feel your son's energy...he's...he's alive!"

Jay's eyes narrowed even further as Mama Murphy stared off into the distance while still holding her arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Your husband doesn't regret anything.." she added causing Jay's face to go white with fury. She just couldn't stop the rush of rage at the sheer audacity of this woman who she had only just met claiming that she knew and even  _seen_ what she'd been through. This woman knew  _nothing!_

She felt another person's hands wrap around her arm to pull it free from Mama Murphy's grip and on reflex snapped out with her free hand. It wasn't until the sharp clap sound resounded around the room that she realized that she'd slapped Piper in the face.

"O-oh God. I'm so so so sorry Piper...I....I" she babbled, backing away suddenly

Piper just shrugged and rubbed her cheek "Ain't nothing new Blue." She said shakily, giving a weak smile "I'm okay"

Jay just kept backing away and darted out the door with her hand covering her mouth. Piper looked to Hancock and jerked her head in the direction of Jay's exit. "Can you talk with her?"

"You gonna be okay?" He asked, frowning in concern

She nodded "I'll buy you time from the other two. Just don't be too long otherwise the unwanted company will get the drop on us. 'Sides, I think it's best she talks to you in case I make her bolt of the roof or something..." she faintly chuckled.

He immediately headed out and made his way to the roof. He found her, not crying but still pale and shaken up while she fiddled with the power armor. "Alright, explain sunshine. What happened in there?"

"It's nothing"

Suddenly irritated, Hancock strode over to her and spun her around to face him. "Clearly it's not nothin' if you try to take out Piper's face just because she touched you. Now explain damn you!"

She bit her lip, feeling the heat and grip of his hands burning into her arms slightly, but finally made eye contact. Overtired green to his black. "I...I got angry because Mama Murphy said she knew about me. Claimed she understood me after just five damn minutes from meeting her. She didn't didn't see the love of her life get blasted away thanks to some sick fuck with a gun! She didn't have people treat her like a guinea pig and freeze her in a fucking tomb! She didn't have her son stolen from her!" she stopped when her voice grew hoarse from shouting at him and just stood there. Panting and shaking in his hold. "I'm just so tired..." she whimpered to herself. Voice cracking from the strain of trying to hold everything together.

He shouldn't have done it. What with her being a recent widow and all. But he ended out letting go of her arms and wrapping his own around her in a warm hug.

Jay shut her eyes, taking in the comfort a simple hug could give while breathing in the strong scent of cigarettes that reminded her of safer and happier times. She wasn't sure how long she stood there before she gently extracted herself, though it was just in time as Cait and MacCready came bursting in through the door with the former waving the fusion core.

Hancock stood back, somewhat confused at the strange warm feeling that seemed to have settled beneath his coat as he watched her jam the core inn the back of the armor with practiced expertise. Piper came out as well and raised a eyebrow at him as Jay opened the power armor and carefully climbed in.

The mechanized limbs started moving and twitching as she got a feel for the controls and how they moved. They were rather stiff and slow, possibly a consequence of being exposed for many years out in the elements without maintenance. She turned and faced the group. "Alright" she began, her voice still hoarse but calmer than before and Hancock listened with approval "-the radar on this thing is picking up multiple hostiles. That's most likely the back up raiders looking to see where their buddies are."

"MacCready, you work best with a rifle in your hand so I want you to stay up here and pick them off from the road. Cait, you work best up close and personal so I want you at my back. The mini gun is gonna take a while to get going and I trust you to keep them off me during that gap alright?"

Cait blinked at the word 'trust' but responded "If that's what ye think is best"

"If things get too hairy though I need you to back out as fast as you can. This thing is old but it'll still take a few hits. Now then Hancock, Piper you flank them on both sides. They're probably gonna scatter off to regroup or just generally be cowardly but I want you to loop around and cut off their exit routes at the end of the street. Everyone got that?"

There were murmurs of agreement as everyone went off to their starting points, that is except Dog and Cait who the latter was staring in confusionj at the figure in the armor while it inclined it's finger at her after gesturing for the dog to return to Preston.

"Okayyy...what?"

"Cait....you afraid of heights?" the voice coming from the helmet sounded thoughtful and disconcertingly amused.

She scoffed "Me? nah. Ain't afraid of nothin'"

"....excellent."

Jay watched in somewhat dark amusement as Cait frowned in confusion. She pulled the minigun easily free and tested it's weight in one hand. The arm would hold for what she needed to do. She crooked her finger again at Cait and waited until she came close enough before the arm slipped around the Irish woman and lifted her carefully. She squawked loudly in shock and thumped her fists on the helmet, stopping only when Jay moved to the edge of the roof.

"Ohhhh no. No. No. No. No. No. Hell No"

"What's the matter Cait? Thought you weren't afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of heights but that doesn't mean I wanna just jump from a fecking roof you psycho!!"

"Then you better hang on tight."

"Oh God" she started as Jay took a step into space and clung to the helmet with both arms. "NOOOOOOO!!!" Cait absolutely screamed as they fell together, landing with a heavy thud onto the road below. Gently Jay lowered a shaken Cait to the ground who immediately fixed her with a glare that would have killed anyone on sight. "....I hate you"

Jay snorted "Glad to hear it"

Cait looked up at the sound of laughing from the roof and flipped off MacCready "Yeah, yeah. Just be glad I'm not up there or I'd be kicking your arse right now"

The first raiders came into sight and Jay shifted in front of Cait, protecting her as she lifted up mini gun. "Yo, Cait. In front."

"I got 'em" she grumbled and pulled out a shotgun from her holster, keeping close behind Jay and covering her as they moved forward up the road.

The raider spilled from virtually everywhere but were shouting their alarm at the active suit of power armor before them. Everyone worked together to slowly pick off the raiders one by one until the ground beneath them started shaking. A grate at the end of the road burst upward and the most monstrous creature Jay had ever seen crawled out roaring in rage.

The air filled with screams of the word 'deathclaw!' as it tore into the remaining raiders, eviscerating them instantly with it's sharp talons and teeth. With the nearby enemies nothing more than just lumps of bloody flesh on the ground it then turn it's attention to the figures before them and roared loudly.

"Cait! Run!" Jay yelled, distracting the deathclaw by firing the minigun at it. She caught sight of a flash of red in the corner of her viewer darting through a nearby broken window and out of sight. The bullets were barely making a dent in it's tough hide as it ran on all fours toward her. In the background she caught glimpses of Hancock and Piper waving their arms frantically as she backed away.

The machine was too slow or perhaps she was too tired, maybe the deathclaw was too fast even. She felt the gun be ripped from the armor's hand and watched it be sent flying as though it was a toy. Then she felt a massive force shoving at her and screeching metal filled the armor, making her ears ring as her protection was just torn away in seconds. The claws and teeth dug steadily deeper and she felt the frame itself being forced inward as it tried to get at her. Suddenly the tearing stopped and the deathclaw roared again, swinging it's arm out and sending her flying into a solid wall nearby.

Jay was dazed and dimly felt a sense of pain in her ribs and stomach. She looked down as her vision started fading out. The frame to the armor was partially crushed inward and she could see the red of her blood slowly seeping through. "Fuck me..." she muttered right before slipping into the welcoming darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, two chapters in one day.


	8. Tale of the Fall of the Minutemen

Sharp stabbing pains dragged Jay from the blissful quiet darkness and back into the waking world. As she came to she could hear the sounds of tools, people talking and familiar clanking that came from Codsworth as the Mr Handy moved around. She opened her eyes with the hint of a smile on her face that quickly faded when she saw a pair of brown eyes staring straight back at her in worry. Her body moved faster than what her head did and there was a large thumping noise as she jerked upward and smacked straight into whoever it was with a awkward crunching sound.

"Ow! Jesus Blue! I'd swear you have a giant rock for a head." Piper yelped as she moved back with a wince. Her hand coming up to rub over the developing sore spot on her forehead as she watched Jay with a frown. "At this rate we're going to need to stick you in a damn bubble since you're so damn keen to injure yourself."

Jay winced and held her hand over her eyes as the room spun. "That bubble better have a bucket...I don't feel too hot. What the hell happened and where are we now?"

"In a little place called Sanctuary." Piper responded as she reached behind her and grabbed a relatively clean bucket, placing it near Jay with a clank. "After the deathclaw took you out MacCready and my second least favourite mayor worked together to drag the thing away so we could get you out of that tin can. Cait, shockingly enough, hauled you on her back and booked it so fast it was like watching a massive swearing blur." She said while shaking her head. "I swear that woman scares me... In any case we hooked up with the Minuteman so we could get you treated."

Sighing quietly, Jay managed to recover enough to gently lay back and look up at the rusted ceiling. "Seems I owe all of you my thanks...and a apology." She said quietly. "Sorry for slapping you back there. It was uncalled for."

There was silence for a time before Piper reached down and gently scruffled her head. "Hey, it's fine Blue. Though you coooould make it up to me by a life time supply of whatever sweets you find out there." She replied with a grin which drew a small snort from the wounded woman. 

"I'll think about it, but if I run into any nuka cola or sugar bombs then you have first dibs." Jay replied, smiling faintly when Piper fistpumped in glee. "Did Preston or whatever his name is say what they were coming for?"

"According to what I could get out of the guy it seems the old woman had some kind of vision or something of this place. Said it'd be the safest place for a new beginning and that they'd find someone who'd change the fate of the Commonwealth." Piper said while straightening the coat that was covering Jay and protecting her from the cold. "I asked for some kinda proof of course and she made a comment about Quincy."

Jay frowned. "Quincy?"

"The site of the Minutemen's greatest failure." Came a voice from outside the window and Jay awkwardly sat up to find both Preston and Hancock hovering in the window. The latter was just smoking a cigarette while the former politely tipped his hat in her direction.

Piper closed her mouth and just waved a hand in Preston's direction, indicating that he could tell the story best. "Probably best that the resident Minuteman tells you what went on since he was there. Meanwhile I'm gonna check to see if they need any help with dinner out there." She said while she got up and stretched out her limbs. "Don't keep her up too long." She warned the Minuteman who nodded.

"No intentions to ma'am." He replied and watched her leave before sighing heavily. Jay just watched in silence as the man began his long and sad tale. "The Quincy Massacre...where the Minutemen betrayed one another and the people they were supposed to protect. I used to be with Colonel Hollis's group when the mercenary group called the Gunners showed up and started attacking the town. The mayor there put out a call to the Minutemen to help after Mama Murphy had one of her...Sight visions that showed her the town was going to fall and be destroyed. But at the end of the day we were the only ones who showed up, the others....they just turned their backs on us and Quincy."

"Why was that?" Jay said with a frown.

Preston tapped on his gun in thought while Hancock took another puff on his cigarette, just quietly listening. "It was after our former general, Joe Becker, was killed that the fighting started. No one could decide on a damn leader so people just argued left and right, separating out into their own little groups. I thought that under the colonel we could put that stupid shit aside long enough so we could still perform our duty to the people...as you can see...I was wrong."

Jay frowned slightly. She could understand the problems as to why the Minutemen fell apart if all they did was fight with one another. "So you were too reliant on one leader to hold things together." She thought out loud and instantly regretted it when Preston's expression turned colder.

"I guess you could say that Colonel Becker at least managed to keep a lid on it and everyone on the same team but after he was killed I couldn't believe how fast things fell apart. And after one of our own betrayed us at Quincy and got the Colonel killed...I guess that was that. I just rounded up every one of the last survivors and got us the hell out of there. We never found a safe place to settle, one disaster after another until Mama Murphy pointed us in the direction of Sanctuary." Preston said before shaking his head.

Silence filled the air as Jay took it all in. "Did you know about this place sooner?"

"No. For the most part we kept to safer parts of the old city to the south and the major settlements since they were in more trouble from the super mutants or raiders. We knew of a few farms up this way but not this place itself." Preston said while Jay just sat there in thought. Part of her felt bad for being so defensive toward the old woman, but the more rational side didn't. She didn't believe that someone could just have a vision of a place and knew that was where they had to go and it wasn't that hard to guess that bad things would happen if someone had seen the Gunners running around prior to Quincy. But for now that wasn't important, for now all she wanted was to get back on her feet as quickly as possible so she could go find this person named Nick so she could return to hunting for her son.

"Thanks for telling me." Jay eventually said as Preston nodded. 

"No problem ma'am. Though if you don't mind listening to a request of mine since Piper told me that you were travelling around, if you run into any farms or people who need assistance, can you help them on my behalf? I'll be stuck here keeping a eye on things in case the raiders decided to follow us."

"Or they caught on that you headed north." Jay said as Preston grimly nodded.

"Too true. Anyway, I'll leave you to recover. Thanks for hearing me out." He replied.

Jay nodded in return before her gaze fell upon Hancock. "So does this mean I owe you a favor as well for helping pull my ass out of the fire?"

The ghoul dropped the cigarette on the ground and squished it under his boot to put it out. "Well now, that depends on what kind of favor you're willing to give." He said with a small smirk as he gestured to the coat that was covering her. Jay looked down and noticed the large red thing draped across her body and it was surprisingly warm to boot though it quickly grew warmer as a embarrassed flush went up the back of her neck.

"Was this really necessary?" She growled as Hancock chuckled.

"Hey the nights get plenty cold out here if you aren't prepared for it and this place isn't as draft free as Hotel Rexford." He replied while sounding somewhat amused. "Don't worry about the favor, the look on your face right now is enough for me. But if you're that keen on it...I'm pretty sure I can find something for you to do in order to pay it back..." He trailed off as he gave her a somewhat heated stare but it quickly disappeared when Jay's face was a mixture of confusion and something else that he couldn't read. "Seriously though, don't worry about it."

She looked up at Hancock as his head turned back to the view outside as the sky started to turn dark and all she could do was frown as a mixture of confusion and a sense of guilt bubbled up as Nate's face appeared in her mind. "I-I'll find some other way to pay you back. MacCready and Cait too." Jay spurted out but Hancock waved a hand.

"Just focus on getting better so we can go find your kid. You feel me?" He said bluntly, leaving no room for argument as Jay reluctantly agreed and he moved away from the window. "I'll send Miss Reporter in with your meal, make sure you eat all of it." He said before disappearing from sight before she could say anything further.

Annoyance quickly replaced the confusion as Jay flopped back on the straw pillow that was pretty much her only defense against the hard floor and she closed her eyes as she held Hancock's coat close. Once more the scent of cigarettes filled the air along with alcohol but there was another few scents that she couldn't really identify. All together though it was oddly relaxing and comforting despite the awkwardness of the conversation earlier and it made her smile slightly as Piper returned carrying the evening meal with her.


End file.
